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Uber Adverts

The one thing I hate about TalkSport, other than being a mouthpiece for the Murdoch empire, is the fucking adverts every five minutes. And the adverts that are particularly boiling my piss at the moment are those fucking Uber ads for drivers. They are so fucking disingenuous, or would appear to be. Are there any Uber drivers here? If so, do you really have more freedom and more time to spend with your family etc. and earn the same or more?

I suspect most Uber drivers are either doing it as a second job to try and make ends meet or they are students who just need a few hours here and there. The so called 'Gig' economy is undermining labour laws and companies such as Uber will have no hesitation dropping every single driver in around 5 years when driverless taxis are on the roads.

Re: Uber Adverts

I'm not a Uber driver but I use Uber and I chat to the drivers. They have no more free time than traditional mini cab drivers, however they can choose the hours and locations they work. From what I understand, driving for Uber used to be pretty profitable in the early days (Uber started in London in 2012) but there are a lot more drivers on the books now so the fares have thinned out. I spoke to a driver at Christmas who said that you have to be pretty clever with the times and locations. He trebled his earnings just by doing his research. Most of the ones I have spoke to are full time drivers but they switch between Uber and other services through out the week. The cost of vehicle upkeep, fuel and licensed to hire insurance means you need to put the hours in so a few hours here and there isn't viable.

I have some black cab driving friends who would run me over if they knew I had used Uber, however I cant fault Uber. The cars are clean the drivers are friendly and they will pick you up in the middle of nowhere.

I'm afraid we lost our secure 'jobs for life' along with our heavy industry and manufacturing years ago. Great Britain has become a nation of freelancers with the associated lack of security.

Re: Uber Adverts

While I agree with the sentiments above, the prices of cabs in London can be obscene.

Black cabs are a total piss take. Yes they have done the knowledge but in our modern era with satnav that is aware of traffic, that is a totally redundant and possibly even counterproductive skill.

Minicabs in London seem to have come down to reasonable prices due to Uber competition, but before Uber, minicabs were quite unreasonably priced in London as well.

In a race to the bottom, the only ones who suffer long term are the majority of the consumers. That's why I think this 'Gig' economy coupled with things like zero hours contracts will eventually bring Western economies like ours to it's knees. The less you pay for products and services, the less the likes of Uber and Amazon feel they have to pay their employees, how else will they preserve their margins? This is fueling the shift to automation and Uber, Amazon et al can't wait until they don't have to employ humans at all.

It's no wonder they're in favour of policies like the Universal Basic Income, because if governments don't start to think seriously about something like that, the consumer base will shrink to nothing and economies will fail, spectacularly. But we should be very wary of any policies like the UBI. Once we are no longer able to participate in production there's a real danger that, with our jobs, will go all political power. The Government only cares about us because they need us to turn up for work on Monday morning. When they no longer need us to fuel the economy, why give us anything? I'm painting a dystopian picture of the future, but do you trust politicians to do the right thing?

An economy based purely on AI/Robots trading between themselves for goods and services, eliminating any need for human involvement, could be achieved. And I suspect there's quite a few CEO's and Shareholders out there who would welcome that with open arms. And it's not as far fetched as it sounds. Machines need raw materials, consumables, energy and space, just like we do. If you are going to replace humans with AI/Robots in the workplace, why not also replace them as consumers too? It's something to think about anyway, sweet dreams everyone.........

Re: Uber Adverts

Its a conundrum science fiction writers have been struggling with for years. Some believe that the replacement of labour by robots and Ai will lead to a dystopian future run by giant conglomerate companies (think Weyland-Yutani, Cyberdyne Systems etc). Others such as Gene Roddenberry believed that we need to ditch money, capitalism and material wealth to progress. Either way, its going to be a long and painful process, especially for the little man at the bottom.

Re: Uber Adverts

Black cabs are a total piss take. Yes they have done the knowledge but in our modern era with satnav that is aware of traffic, that is a totally redundant and possibly even counterproductive skill.

As far as I am aware, black cab drivers do not set the fare. The tariffs are set by Transport for London and the carriage office. The knowledge is redundant? Try using sat nav in your local area for a week for journeys that you know like the back of your hand. You will be amazed how badly Google, Tom Tom and Garmin perform.

Re: Uber Adverts

Originally Posted by MHP

As far as I am aware, black cab drivers do not set the fare. The tariffs are set by Transport for London and the carriage office. The knowledge is redundant? Try using sat nav in your local area for a week for journeys that you know like the back of your hand. You will be amazed how badly Google, Tom Tom and Garmin perform.

I didn't know about the fares being set by TFL, I just looked on their site and the pricing is so complicated and basically justifies the overpriced fares.

I agree with CJ about the gig market and do think it is diluting people's jobs, but I feel can black taxis have had a pretty good monopoly on the market for years.

I think that now they have greater competition they are starting to prove better using the apps.

Re: Uber Adverts

Just look at all the poor amazon employees sleeping in tents in nearby fields/gardens to survive. Big company ethos is going to destroy the planet and us along with it.

As much as I try to avoid these big unethical companies I find it almost impossible and am a hypocrite as if I can find something half the price I will obviously go for it.
Things need to change massively and I agree with a lot of CJ's post as bleak as it is.

Sad times ahead. I'm all for change but not at the expense of the human race.
Maybe the matrix would be a good idea !!!

Re: Uber Adverts

Originally Posted by MHP

Its a conundrum science fiction writers have been struggling with for years. Some believe that the replacement of labour by robots and Ai will lead to a dystopian future run by giant conglomerate companies (think Weyland-Yutani, Cyberdyne Systems etc). Others such as Gene Roddenberry believed that we need to ditch money, capitalism and material wealth to progress. Either way, its going to be a long and painful process, especially for the little man at the bottom.

The only way we can be saved is if we go the Roddenberry route and move from a capital based to a resource based economy. But the pressure for that change needs to start at the bottom and I fear that may never happen. There's too much power and wealth concentrated at the top and I can only imagine what they will do to hold on to it. As you say, it's going to be painful.

Re: Uber Adverts

The knowledge is redundant? Try using sat nav in your local area for a week for journeys that you know like the back of your hand. You will be amazed how badly Google, Tom Tom and Garmin perform.

Funny you say that, as normally only use Google Maps for unfamiliar routes, but sometimes if I'm in a rush and travelling through an area I know is bad for congestion I will use it as well. Apart from the GPS sometimes thinking I'm a few meters out (which may cause it to think I'm on a different road when I'm at a junction), I've been very impressed with it hence my comment. Only other issue I've had a handful of times is when a map hasn't been updated and it tries to send me through a road that's been closed.

When I used to use a lot of black cabs for work purposes, I must admit that they seemed to know their way around quite well. However only something like 1 in 20 seemed to know all the best shortcuts/traffic free roads at all times of day, but whenever I hear people defending black cab driver's wages, I often hear people seeming to imply all of them had this type of knowledge as a product of doing the knowledge.

However even the best cabbie will have no idea if a road has just been closed a few minutes ago due to an incident, while it is pretty obvious with google maps. Also I've had a few instances of black cabs trying to take stupid routes knowing their meter would let them get paid more for wasting my time.

I don't like the idea of the gig market and I've never actually used Uber. I won't say anything in defence of the gig economy but this doesn't mean I shouldn't moan about obscene cab prices in London, just like I might moan about obscene house prices in London on another thread.

Advances in technology have often been controversial. Pretty early on the Luddites realised machines were putting people out of some types of work. So far the trend hasn't led to mass unemployment and has resulted in major improvements in our lives. However I have to admit I also worry about the future where we may not be needed as workers.

Re: Uber Adverts

Originally Posted by Over Carl

Advances in technology have often been controversial. Pretty early on the Luddites realised machines were putting people out of some types of work. So far the trend hasn't led to mass unemployment and has resulted in major improvements in our lives. However I have to admit I also worry about the future where we may not be needed as workers.

In terms of the economy, I think this time it's different. With every other technological advance we've always had our cognitive superiority to help us both create and fill new opportunities. When we lose that advantage, which is what advances in AI could mean, what place will we fill then? Emotional intelligence may be something that separates us from machines, in the short term anyway, so maybe an economy based on that could be expanded.

I totally agree about technology making our lives better, but its hardly democratic. There are still 4 billion people who don't have access to the internet. Technological advance is not the problem, we are.

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